


The liberty that we’ll enjoy tonight

by middlemarch



Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: 007 Fest, Dinner Party, Double Date, F/M, Food Porn, Humor, M/M, Prompt Fill, Romance, reference to Gaudy Night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-11 04:35:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15307590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/middlemarch/pseuds/middlemarch
Summary: Gareth had been reluctant to accept the invitation. He could be so very foolish but she was a woman fond of his brand of folly.





	The liberty that we’ll enjoy tonight

“And then he started going on and on about some sort of rocket that could fire underwater but attain super-sonic speeds once it breached the ocean’s surface,” James explained, spooning up some more of the heirloom tomato gazpacho that Q had made after getting the tomatoes shipped in from Spain. The ruddy soup was drizzled with an olive oil almost the color of verdigris and a scattering of flash-fried basil leaves that Vivian had dutifully eaten. M had removed them all and tucked them in the shadow of the shallow soup bowl.

“The whole place was an embarrassment, tawdry as a failed bordello. And all his equipment was out-of-date. You would have screamed to see the screens, Q. I pitied him, honestly,” James went on. He leaned back in his chair, the light from the pricked hanging lanterns playing very attractively on the planes of his face, his gasoline blue eyes, the hollow at the base of his throat. He wore an open-collared shirt and a pair of trousers so finely cut Vivian thought Versace might weep in his grave with frustrated desire. “He had an aquarium in the wall but it was filthy with algae. Even the crabs had given up on it. They just lay in a heap in the corner.”

“So, it was a bust,” Vivian said, trying to move the story along. Gareth gave her a quick look, the proxy for a grin. “All that time you spent making up to Dolly Wantanabe at that mahjong tournament, where by the way, you lost an awful lot of Her Majesty’s assets, a total waste.” She’d seen the stills Q had, Dolly’s unnecessarily ill-contained and ample décolletage, James’s expression of total boredom whenever he thought he could get away with it. She could hear his introduction in her mind, “Bond, James Bond” and knew that neither he nor Dolly had had the slightest interest in going any further than his hand laid obviously on her knee, revealed by the slit in her heavy red silk gown.

“Not entirely,” James said. From the pocket of his linen blacker, hanging on the back of his chair, he pulled out a device that was bulbous and retro. “I got this for Q, when Peshkaqen was waxing rhapsodic.”

“Hang on,” Q interrupted, grabbing the tarnished item, weighing it in his hand. Gareth raised an eyebrow and she shook her head. No such presents for her, not even as a gag gift. “Now pay attention, 007, because this looks like it’s a feckless piece of shite, but it’s bloody dangerous if you handle it wrong.”

“That could be said of so many things,” Gareth said and Vivian shivered. She knew what he wanted her to remember, her hands on him and his teeth, his voice in her ear, whispering the dirtiest Catullus he’d memorized in prep school and then making her catch her breath when he called her _Domina_. 

“Coffee?” Vivian said quickly.

“It won’t keep you up all night?” James asked, guilelessly. As if a shark could ever be called that.

“That’s not a problem for me,” Vivian said and Gareth laughed, a harsh sound, that she knew meant he was swallowing it back. She wouldn’t let him do that when they were alone.

“Lucky you,” Q said, sly as James had not been. Vivian smiled widely. She had been right—a dinner party was an incomparable way to spend the night, both in the moment and in the anticipation of its delicious recollection.

**Author's Note:**

> Decided to try for all the prompts in the classic Bond board on the Tumblr post for 007 Fest: food porn, villain regaling evil plan, villain's lair, Bond girl, "Bond, James Bond," aquatic creature, gambling/poker, "now pay attention, 007" and wild card-- I decided that would be double pairing.
> 
> The title is from Ben Jonson's poem "Inviting a Friend to Supper." Dr. Vivian Liu is the OFC I write with tessaquayle as a romantic partner for M and all around badass surgeon/spy. We have a good 20 odd stories featuring the good doctor now, if you like spending time with her.


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